Improvement in hemp-brakes



- Patented Feb. 2.7-. 1855.

Hemp Brake I 0,. w. HUGHES agrnpher. wmm m". D. Q

PETERS. Phum-Lith i imaginary line drawn between a a.

l p; llnrrnn STATES PATENT Erica,

" D. w. HUGHES, or New LONDON, MIssoURI.

IMPROVEMENT 1N HEMP-BRAKES.

i 'Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,456, datedFebruary 27, 1855.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, D. W. HUGHES, of NewLondon, in the county of Balls and Stateof Missouri, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Machinery for Breaking Hemp, Flax, 8rd; and Ido hereby declare that the followingis afull,:clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying"drawings, forming part of this specificatiominwhic Figure 1 is aside'elevation of a brake constructed according to my invention, andFig.

2 is a plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

This invention consists in a certain arrangement and application of andmode of operating a number of teeth'or breakers which are employed tobreak and separate the woody from the fibrous portion of the material.

"To enable thoseskilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to de-,

scribe its constructionand operation.

A is a strong frame, of a convenient height for the material to be fedby hand to the teeth or breakers, which work immediately above B B and Oare the breakers, which somewhat resemble heavy blunted knives, placedin an upright position. The two breakers B B are attached to the frontends of two horizontal levers, D D, which work on fulcra a a, i securedin a fixed position in the frame. The

back ends of these levers are connected by pins 12 b to two toggle-arms,'E E, whose connecting-pin c is extended upward with an eye to fit to afixed straightghorizontal guide-bar, d, whichstands in a line at rightangles to an The two levers D D have. springs F F applied to them insuch a way as to throw apart the breakers B B toward the positionindicated in Fig. 2 in red outline, and the connecting-pin c of thetoggle-joint has a cord or chain, G, attached to it, and runningbackward fromit around a pulley, e, which is placed in a fixed standard,H, the said cord or chain then running forward over another pulley, f,in a fixed standard, I, and descending to a treadle, J, so placed thatan operator can keep his foot upon it while he feeds the material to themachine- By the pressure of his foot upon the treadle, the operator candraw back the pin 0 and extend the toggle-joint to draw the breakers B Btoward each other until they nearly meet, as shown in black outline inFig. 2. The breaker C is at tached to a horizontal bar or slider, K,which receives 'a rapidreciprocating motion through a connectingrod, L,from a crank, M, on the driving-shaft N, at the rear' end of themachine, which receives a constant rotary motion from any prime mover.This movement drives i the breaker 0 between and draws it back from thebreakers B B. t

In operating with this machine, the unbroken material which is supposedto have been previously wholly or partlyirotted is placed, while thebreaker G is drawn back across the blunt edges of the breakers B B,which are brought closer together or farther apart by the treadle,

according as the material is finer and softer or coarser and harder, orthe hunch is smaller orlarger. The action of the breaker G by drivingthe material against and between those B B first cracks and then breaksup the wood and detaches it from the fiber. As the operation progresses,the operator gradually presses down the treadle with his foot to makethe breakers BB approach each other, and as the fiber is divested ofwoody matter, it is allowed to be driven by the breaker G farther in between the breakers BB. By the time the latter breakers arrive nearly incontact, the woody matter will be entirely broken, and the operator thenraises his foot from the treadle to allow the breakers to be thrownapart by the springs F F previously to his feeding the material onwardto submit another portion to the action of the breaker O; and in thismanner the operation proceeds, a fresh portion of unbroken materialbeing presented as soon as one portion has been sufficiently operatedup- .on. It will be observed by-reference to Fig.

machine is running.

Instead; of only two breakers B ;B and one C, any other nuinber of eachmay-be employed if found desirable.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure :by-Letters Patent,is.

Arranging'and applying the breakers B B so that they may be broughtwhile; the machine is in operation to the proper distance 'apart to suitthe nature of the material to be operated upon, and may beeaused to;

each'gther or nearer tofthef li ije of oper of their correspondingbreaker Gas the operation progresses, substantially as hereinfsetjforth.

; \Vitnesses: a a a

